Craig is an AI-powered alarm clock voiced by Craig Robinson, built to wake you up with hilarious, hard-hitting affirmations tailored for small business owners.
Every wake-up feels personal, motivational, and just the right amount of unhinged, like your favorite coworker got hold of a mic and decided to hype you up with no filter.
THE OPPORTUNITY
AT&T wanted to connect with small business owners in a way that felt authentic, energizing, and memorable. The brief was to create something people would actually look forward to using every day, a tool that could motivate, entertain, and keep entrepreneurs pushing toward their goals.
The challenge was clear: how do you turn Craig Robinson’s comedy and charm into a living, breathing product experience? The solution was to build a custom alarm clock that could deliver original content 365 days a year, powered by AI and designed to feel like Craig was right there in your bedroom, talking directly to you.
THE SET UP
In a packed club, Craig dropped the mic.
Then, billboards lit up Los Angeles.
People believed it.
Social feeds blew up, blogs buzzed, headlines followed.
Everybody thought Craig was done.
But Craig doesn’t clock out. Craig clocks in.
THE REVEAL
The twist? Craig wasn’t leaving, he was pivoting.
From telling jokes… to telling time.
The idea? CrAIg, the Craig Clock.
Built to wake up hustlers, grinders, and small businesses.
Not just an alarm. An AI-powered hype machine.
THE CREATIVE
Craig’s personality became the blueprint. Every feature of the clock was designed to bring his humor and energy to life in a way that felt fresh each morning. We built a system around three core content pillars:
The creative was rooted in comedy but engineered for consistency. Each line, riff, and song had to sound like Craig, look like Craig, and keep small business owners motivated without ever slipping off-brand.
PHYSICAL BUILD
THE MAGIC
How did Craig get inside the clock?
We cloned him. The perfect likeness.
Wrapped him in AI like a digital burrito.
Lines, expressions, gestures recorded to puppet him in latent space.
Voice, likeness, attitude — all Craig. Infinite Craig. HoloCraig.
AI CLONING
1.
AI voice model trained on Craig’s tone + timing.
2.
AI likeness generated for holographic Craig.
3.
A knowledge base of personality parameters tuned for “Craigisms”, trained on his tone of voice and cadence.
PHOTOGRAPH & TRAIN ON THE TALENT
OUTPUT THEM AS YOU WISH
*WITH THEIR APPROVAL
ANIMATE IN ANY SCENARIO
Dynamic outputs assembled on the fly, mixed with pre-canned heaters. We just couldn’t stop ourselves.
AI CONTENT ENGINE
We built a buffet of Craig. 365 Days.
Dynamic outputs assembled on the fly, mixed with pre-canned heaters.
We just couldn’t stop ourselves.
…And for the campaign too.
We used AI to build a rich, believable world around Craig
that made the campaign feel unmistakably real.
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
To bring Craig to life, we had to invent a full pipeline that merged hardware, live action, AI, and UX. Every piece of the project ran in parallel so the final clock felt seamless from the moment you unboxed it.
THE PIPELINE IN ACTION
BRAND RAILS & SMARTER CONTENT MODERATION
Craig don’t play that. Neither does AT&T legal. 😂
A.
BRAND GUARDRAILS
Offensive prompts are handled behind the scenes.
B.
BEHAVIORAL LEARNING
AI adapts to edge cases and adjusts its filters in real-time.
C.
TONE CONSISTENCY
Protects brand personality without over-sanitizing.
D.
NEVER BREAKS CHARACTER
Craig’s voice always stays confident, comedic, and clean.
RESULTS
- Billions of impressions fueled by AI driven stunt
- 50 fully functional units were fabricated and shipped for AT&T’s promotional campaign.
- 365 days of content were built into the system, mixing dynamic AI generations with evergreen affirmations and holiday moments.
- Original music and singing AI gave Craig a new way to perform, creating hype tracks that small business owners could literally wake up to.
- Press and influencer buzz amplified the launch, with unboxings and on-air moments showcasing Craig’s one-of-a-kind personality.
- Post-campaign longevity was built in, with sunset mode ensuring clocks remained useful even after the promotional window closed.
